Colombia Plane Splits in Three Upon Crash Landing

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A Boeing 737 airliner with 131 people aboard split in three during a crash landing at Colombia’s San Andres island after being struck by lightning. Police said it was a “miracle” that only one person died.
“It’s a miracle,” Gen. Orlando Paez of Colombia’s national police told Caracol Radio. “The pilot’s professionalism prevented the plane from going off the runway.”
The Aires jetliner crash landed at 1:49 a.m. local time at Gustavo Rojas Pinilla airport on the Caribbean resort island, Colombia’s national police said in a statement.
Three Brazilian nationals and an American were among those injured on the flight between Bogota and the island, Paez told Caracol.
Paez said the plane spun out of control when it was struck by lightning 80 meters before landing at the mainly English- speaking Colombian island about 140 miles (225 kilometers) east of Nicaragua’s coastline.
All those who received injuries are out of harm’s way and expected to fully recover, Caracol Radio reported. The one fatality was a woman who died of a heart attack after the plane crashed.
To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Bristow in Brasilia at mbristow5@bloomberg.net


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